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Around 1400 lots were offered in Bertoia’s mammoth auction of vintage toys in Vineland, New Jersey, including seasonal playthings for Halloween and Christmas.

Bronze Age golden jewellery and a Roman goddess kept in a margarine tub are among the discoveries dug up across the UK.

The archive of John Mollo, the concept artist behind the Star Wars franchise, came up at Bonhams this week. Leading the sale was a personal sketchbook showing some of the first hand-drawn costume designs for Darth Vader, Chewbacca and the stormtroopers.

On March 15, 1493, Christopher Columbus disembarked from his ship in Palos and headed straight to Barcelona where he recounted tales of his discovery of America to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

The ivory bill, which proposes a near-total ban on the trade in ivory, has passed its final stage in the House of Commons and is awaiting Royal Assent before it can become law next year.

The London auction calendar in early December offered a busy schedule of antiquities, sculpture and works of art sales running side-by-side with the Old Master series. Overall the sales were relatively well-received with improved selling rates on previous years. Here we select five highlights from the series.

An exceptionally rare Western Zhou bronze, taken when the Summer Palace was sacked by British troops in 1860, has been returned to China.

A self-portrait of British artist John Sergeant (1937-2010) was one of the highlight sales at London Art Week where it was bought as a donation to the British Museum.

Our latest look at moves across the world of art and antiques.

More than 300 works from The Fine Art Society, which left its New Bond Street home of 142 years in August, go under the hammer at Sotheby’s next year.

Auction house Sotheby’s teamed up with fashion designer Victoria Beckham on an Old Master art exhibition for the second time this year.

With estimates from £1500 to £30,000, here are five previews from upcoming sales this week.